Short Path in the Dark
by TLC Middle School Language Art
Summary: Harry Potter falls prey to the tricks of the Dark Lord.


Short Path in the Dark

The big, old trees in the forest blocked most of the light. Harry Potter & Harrison Bergeron would have to light their wands in order to see anything.

"Lumos!" they whispered together.

They walked carefully and quietly, so to not disturb any of the magical but dangerous creatures that dwelled here. Not the most ideal place to meet, but they couldn't find any other place to meet. The needed to construct another Sorcerer's Stone for the Dark Lord.

When Harry had went down to the Chamber of Secrets to save Ginny, the Dark Lord had convinced him to join the dark side. If he did, then the Dark Lord would let Ginny go. Harry had immediately agreed. However, harry needed to prove himself before he got branded the Dark Mark. This was his first mission, also a very good chance to prove himself to the other Death Eaters and the Dark Lord himself.

If Ron and Hermione had gone with him to the chamber, they would have got the honor to meet the Dark Lord and to join him. Nonetheless, they had chickened out at the last moment. Not Harry though, he was not that easily scared.

"We're here!" said Harrison in a singsong voice.

His words broke off Harry's train of thoughts.

"Did you bring the ingredients for the stone?" asked Harrison.

"Yes, it's right here." replied Harry, while taking out the ingredients from a pouch hung on his neck.

Since Harrison was the better potion maker, Harry let Harrison handle the ingredients. After they finished the potion, they would need to find a perfectly round stone, pour the potion on it, and then cast a very complicated spell. The hardest part would be smuggling Voldemort's soul into Hogwarts without activating the school's defense or letting Dumbledore getting wind of their plan to let Voldemort come back to power.

"Why didn't you bring the boomslang skin or the gillyweed?" Queried Harrison.

"Oh! Sorry, I totally forgot about those! I'll bring them in the next time we meet."

"Well, you better remember next time, or the Dark Lord will be furious that we can't finish the potion at his deadline." Said Harrison.

They decided to call it a day and head back to their separate dormitories since they couldn't finish the potion. Harrison seemed oddly cheerful, as he was whistling, twirling and jumping around like a young deer. It bothered Harry, since they might get caught if Harrison kept making loud noises.

"Be quiet! Or do you want to get caught by Dumbledore!" cried Harry, tired of his noises.

Before Harrison had opened his mouth to reply, there was a loud bang, and both of them fell to the ground, wands spinning in the air. A tall person in a long cloak with a hood caught both of their wands in midair.

"HARRISON BERGERON! HOW DARE YOU! I TRUSTED YOU, AND THIS IS HOW YOU REPAY ME?" thundered a strange but somehow familiar voice.

The mysterious stranger pulled off his cloak. In the dim moonlight, Harry could make out the face of the furious Dumbledore.

He threw back Harrison's wand and said, "Since you have betrayed my trust, we will duel to the death!"

They began to duel, it was the fiercest duel that Harry had ever seen, and he had seen quite a few duels in his young life. However, powerful as Harrison may be, he was no match for Dumbledore. In the span of a few moments, there was a flash of green light, and Harrison fell down, his last breath about to leave him. Dumbledore's nonverbal killing curse had been sent straight at his chest.

"Harry, why didn't you… run?" was Harrison's last words.

Harry himself was bewildered that he hadn't run the moment he had seen that the mysterious stranger in the cloak was actually Dumbledore. Perhaps that he had felt that he owed Dumbledore an explanation after Harrison, one of Dumbledore's most trusted and talented students, or so he thought, had betrayed him. Resulting in Dumbledore killing Harrison. But before he could say anything, Dumbledore conjured two armchairs out of thin air.

"Sit." he commanded. Though he hadn't yelled, Harry felt that it was a yell, or a shout. He immediately started crying and confessed everything to Dumbledore, from going into the Chamber of Secrets to planning to make a Sorcerer's stone for Voldemort. Dumbledore regarded him for a long, long time.

Then, he finally said, "You shouldn't have given in so easily to evil, the Sorting Hat chose to put you into Gryffindor, not Slytherin for a reason. Though not all Slytherin are bad. Great wizards have given everything to stop Voldemort, even with their lives, including your parents."

Though Dumbledore's tone was not demanding, it still felt like a slap to the face to Harry. He immediately felt super guilty for ever letting evil people convincing him to do such evil things.

"Evil never dies, but if evil keeps being delayed, then we would never have to worry again, do you understand?" said Dumbledore.

Harry had understood everything he had said, and Dumbledore's words had cleared the bad feelings he had felt in his heart.

"Thank you." He finally said.

He didn't just mean telling him all this, he also meant to thank Dumbledore for helping him to soothe his raging feelings, and giving him a way back. But he didn't have to say that, or anything else. By the way Dumbledore had smiled and how his eyes behind his half-moon spectacles had twinkled, Harry knew that Dumbledore understood, everything that he wanted to say, as always.


End file.
